


When the sun smiles back

by Joshi26



Category: Original Work
Genre: F/F, Original Character(s), Original Fiction, Slow Burn, Slow Romance, wlw
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-08
Updated: 2020-03-11
Packaged: 2021-03-01 02:07:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,259
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23067481
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Joshi26/pseuds/Joshi26
Summary: After suffering from a depression for the last 5 years, Kimika Matsumae resorts to travelling hundreds of miles to Eastern Europe to seek out a woman who is said to be able to 'cure all and any sadness' with her dancing. When they meet, Kimika realises there is more to this woman than her dancing and a fascinating relationship develops between the both of them.
Kudos: 3





	1. Introduction: The Sun

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! I don't know what to say but this is the first original story I have ever uploaded (even though I have had ideas for and started writing many others) so I thoroughly hope you enjoy it. Please let me know if there is anything better I can do with my writing!

It was just a little after midnight. The warm August air danced through the halls of the Matsumae household, which was delicately lit underneath the moonlight. Total emptiness was the only thing the house had to offer. Every room, every hall, everywhere was plagued with nothingness. Except one. One tiny, insignificant room at the centre of it all. The only room to contain any signs of life, those signs being an old mat in the corner of the room with a worn out blanket on top, a small wash basin in the other corner, new but unworn clothes hanging from a hook by the window and a mirror which was facing the wall, away from whoever would be using it. The house was dead, just like whoever lived there. However, as dead as she seemed, Kimika (Kimi) Matsumae remained alive, being the sole heir and head to the Matsumae household.

12:30am came, and 12:30am went. 1:30am came, and 1:30am went. Many hours more came and left this world whilst Kimi sat in the dirt outside of her home. This was something Kimi often did in the late hours of the night when she was unable to sleep, which seemed to be every night. The gentle winds that once flirted with Kimi became harsher as the night progressed. She sat there, in the dirt, in complete silence, with only the whistling of the wind to accompany her. For the hours she sat there, she didn’t do anything, or say anything, or think anything. Instead, she sat with her arms hugging her knees and her face buried in her arms, staring into the darkness. Sometimes she would change her person and lie down, just like a corpse out in the open. Kimi didn’t care that her hair would get dirty or that her clothes would get ruined, after all, she could afford to buy thousands of garments from anywhere at anytime if that was her wish. Usually, Kimi would return to the safety of her house just before dawn and go to sleep in her ragged blanket that clearly hadn’t been washed in a long time. However, on this particular night, Kimi stayed outside past sunrise.

The sunlight slowly made its way across the horizon and began to light up the Matsumae house in all its glory. The warmth from the sunrays began to gently caress Kimi, exposing her pale, ivory coloured skin. Kimi slowly lifted her head from the depths of her arms and without warning, her eyes were violently attacked by the illuminations. Her eyes began to widen as she took in all of the colours of the landscape. The greens of the grass and the pinks on the sakura trees, the blue in the sky, even the ugly brown dirt excited her. Kimi rarely went outside during the daytime. Instead she chose to stay inside her house (usually in her room) in the darkness. The sun created an unknown territory for Kimi, but she seemed to like this territory. For the first time in a long time, she felt okay.

“How… how, pretty” Kimi mumbled under her breath. She smiled at the sun and the sun smiled back.


	2. Kimika & Yori

“Lady Matsumae? Lady Matsumae?” A small, timid looking woman dressed in all black stumbled through the gate into the back garden of the Matsumae house. There she saw her mistress, Kimika, hunched in the dirt. As she got closer, she noticed that Kimi had fallen asleep out in the open. “Lady Matsumae? Lady Matsumae, please wake up!” The woman began to gently shake Kimi with one hand to wake her up. “Lady Matsumae, please wake up. If you stay outside any longer you might get sick!” The woman continued to shake Kimi, softly as if she was scared to wake Kimi up. “Lady-”

“Y-Yori?” Kimi said quietly, awakening from her slumber.

“Lady Matsumae!” the woman, Yori, exclaimed with joy. “Lady Matsumae! Yes, it’s me! It’s Yori!” Yori offered a warm, comforting smile to Kimi. As Kimi lifted her head, she saw her most faithful servant, Yori Watanabe. The daylight seemed to reveal many of Yori’s features that Kimi had seemed to have forgotten about. Her big, innocent eyes that made you want to protect her. Her tiny frame that made her vulnerable to the terrors of this world. Her skinny hands and fingers that cared for others more than they cared for themselves. And her smile. The smile that always appeared when there was no reason for it. Yori was the closest thing Kimi had to family even though Kimi would never accept her as ‘family’. Nevertheless, Yori remained by her side even after she was no longer needed. The Watanabe family had served the Mastumae family for generations. Yori’s earliest memories belong to the Matsumae family, and to Kimi. Yori loved Kimi like a sister and would do anything to keep her safe. 

“Yori,” Kimi looked up at Yori, blinded by the daylight she had not seen for a long while. “What are you doing here? I thought I told you, you don’t have to come here anymore. I have no use for you, and you have no use for me.” Despite Kimi’s cruel words, Yori’s smile never faded.

“Lady Matsumae, let us go inside before you get burnt by the sun. I’ll put some-”

“The sun.” Kimi interrupted. “She’s beautiful, isn’t she?” Kimi’s gaze turned from Yori to the sun behind and slightly above her. Yori was shocked. Shocked that her Lady complimented something. Even if that something was a star hundreds of thousands of miles away from them. “The sun, the centre of our universe. Despite having so much to do, she still came to see me this morning.” Kimi’s voice began to crack, and her eyes became glassy. “Do you think she came to see me, or do you think I was in the way?” Kimi softly asked, turning her attention back to Yori. Even though Yori didn’t quite understand what she was being asked, she still made the effort to answer her mistress. “Yes, Lady Matsumae, I do think she came to see you. In fact, she comes to see you every morning and I’m glad you got to see her today.” And with Yori’s reply, Kimi did something she never does. She happily returned the smile Yori so kindly offered to her earlier. “Let’s go inside, Lady Matsumae.” Yori helped Kimi up from the dirt she was sat in and ushered her inside the house. There, Kimi was greeted with the darkness she was so familiar with.

Kimi slowly made her way into her bedroom, tiredness taking over her whole body. She could barely stay awake to stand up. Once in the bedroom, Kimi collapsed onto the old mat in the corner. Once again, she was nothing but an insignificant human living in the darkness of her own personal hell. As she lay there, motionless, Yori entered the room; in one hand was a piping hot cup of tea and in the other, a warm bowl of porridge. “Here, Lady Matsumae. Eat. Drink.” Yori gives the bowl to Kimi and places the cup on the floor beside her. Hesitant to eat the food, Kimi replies “You know you don’t have to call me that.”

“Call you what?”

“Lady Matsumae. In all honesty it’s quite annoying and you no longer belong to me, so calling me Lady Matsumae is pointless.”

“Oh,” Yori says, disheartened “I’m sorry Lady- oh, uh”

“Just call me Kimi, or at least Kimika, like when we were kids.” Kimi had no intention of being harsh to Yori, but the thought of being treated like she still held any importance in the world, made her sick. “We’re equals Yori, don’t ever forget that.”

As Kimi sat and ate her food and drank her tea, Yori sat and watched her. For Yori, just being in the presence of Kimi made her happy. Yori stayed to listen to whatever little things Kimi had to say, the little mumbles and grumbles, the complaints, the sadness and sorrows. After all, that was her job, to be there for her mistress. Minutes, and then hours began to pass, morning became afternoon and afternoon became evening. In that time, Yori did many things: cleaning the house (especially Kimi’s room), opening windows, food shopping, organising Kimi’s affairs – the usual. And as usual, Kimi stayed silently in her room, reluctant to move at all.

However, as the evening progressed, Kimi started to notice Yori hovering around her room more and more frequently, as if she wanted to come in but didn’t have the courage to do so. Eventually it got to the point when Yori would stand by the door of the bedroom and simply stare at Kimi lying on the ground, which increasingly began to annoy Kimi who hated when Yori couldn’t just ‘come out and say it’. “Spit it out!” Kimi exclaimed into the silence. “Hurry up. You obviously have something to say.” Yori loitered at the doorway before making her way into the room and sitting down next to Kimi. “Just say it, Yori.”

“I think we should go on a trip. There is something that I think will help you. Help you to get better.” Yori finally revealed.

“A trip? To ‘help’ me?”

“Yes Lady- I mean, Kimi. A trip, to the West”

“How on earth would a trip to the West help me? What good is the West to me?” Kimi replied, obviously sceptical of Yori’s suggestion.

“There are rumours,” Yori explained “rumours of a person who can cure sadness. A person who can make anyone who sees her happy again. She can make them see the light Kimika!” It was clear that Yori was passionate about this idea of taking Kimi to the West to seek a cure for her unhappiness and unlike previous attempts of seeking help for Kimi, Yori was determined to make this happen. “But why-”

“Kimi!” Yori finally exploded. “Please. Just, please, help me help you.” Suddenly this idea was no longer a suggestion, but a desperate plea by Yori. She began to hold and cradle Kimi’s cold hands and buried her head in Kimi’s lap. Yori was no longer suggesting or desiring. She was begging, from the depths of her kind heart. Kimi looked at the tiny woman before her, begging on her knees as if her life depended on it. “Do not treat me like some God who will grant your wish, Yori.” Kimi said as she yanked her hands out of Yori’s. At that moment, Yori knew her efforts were futile. She wouldn’t be able to convince Kimi to leave the country for a mere rumour. “Okay.” Kimi broke the morbid silence. Immediately Yori jolted up in utter surprise, revealing her red cheeks and puffy eyes. She had been silently crying. “Okay” Kimi repeated.

“Okay?” Yori questioned, but at the same time she couldn’t hide the happiness she felt from Kimi accepting her plea. “So, that means you’ll go. To the West?”

“I guess so.” Reluctance plagued Kimi’s voice, but she knew that she couldn’t hurt the one person who stayed by her side when everyone else disappeared. She wasn’t that cruel and cold hearted. “Anyway, I have nothing to lose and everything to gain, so yes, I will go.” This time, it was Kimi who cradled Yori’s hands.

“Thank you, Kimi.” And without a moment’s hesitation, Yori started to prepare for their Journey to the West.


	3. The passage to happiness

It would be a full month before Yori and Kimi arrived in the West after a ruthlessly long boat journey across the Sea of Japan. 24 days at sea, travelling from one great continent to another. Even Kimika was bewildered by the magnitude of their journey. It was like travelling to a different reality. This alternate reality was called ‘Russia’.

Once on land again, Kimika and Yori would have to travel another 6 days before they would arrive at the small, remote village of Goshny, which seemed to be completely cut off from the rest of the country. Nevertheless, Goshny was its own little world. It was completely different from the rest the country that they had seen.

Neither Kimika nor Yori had seen anything like it. A magical place filled with life and energy. Giantess trees covered the planes, blossoming with gorgeous green leaves, as healthy as can be. Small creatures infested the grasslands and bigger creatures in the air. Pink, yellow, blue and orange plants and flowers painted the landscape as the blinding sun shone her rays onto them. The sound of the wind in the trees in the distance provided the serenity that Kimika so desperately needed in her life. The air was warm and crisp, from the oxygen freshly produced by the organic life that stood before them. Kimika closed her eyes, tilted her head upwards to the sky and inhales as much fresh air as she could. After a few seconds, she exhaled, attempted to release as much negativity into the wild as possible.

There seemed to be no roads from what they could see, just grass that in some places, reached up to your knees, and dirt trails for the horses and wagons to ride on. Even though they had only reached the entrance of the tiny village, Kimi knew this trip was worth making, as she could already feel the difference (although this was probably due to her being outside and breathing in fresh air for once).

Kimi and Yori entered the village of Goshny, the passage to happiness.


End file.
